Barefoot in Lace (Barefoot Bay Brides Book 2) (12 page)

“Very good.” He stole a glance at the woman responsible for that good time, but she’d turned on the bench to talk with Alex. And Alex was talking back.

“Gussie is a blast, that’s one of the many things we love about her,” Ari said, dragging him back into conversation. “Along with her incredible loyalty, her whimsical humor, and her unparalleled ability to make even the plainest bridesmaid look stunning, but not quite prettier than the bride. That’s an art, you know.”

He smiled at the flattering résumé recital. Did Ari think she had to showcase Gussie’s qualities? Because he was getting familiar enough with every one.

“I know it is,” he said vaguely, leaning a little to hear what Alex and Gussie were talking about, but Ari fired another question at him. Something about the setup for the wedding. Then another about his personal approach to the bridal party. And one more, forcing him to give up on the other conversation altogether.

Maybe that was better, since Alex seemed more alive than she had since they’d arrived.

“Are you, uh, interviewing me?” he asked Ari. “’Cause I’m pretty sure I got the job already.”

She gave a low laugh. “You have the wedding job, yes. But”—she arched a dark brow and tipped her head toward Gussie—“what are your intentions toward my friend?”

Had he heard that right? Across the table, Alex let out a little shriek. “You would take me there?”

“Where?” Tom asked, letting the conversation with Ari drop.

“There’s a Forever 21 open on the mainland,” Alex said.

“What is that? Some kind of bar?”

Alex burst out laughing and looked at Gussie. “He’s clueless.”

“No, he’s a man who would have no reason to shop for teen-girl clothes. But I did a whole blog about that store, and I think they have great stuff.” She eyed Alex carefully, up and down. “You might be a tad young, but definitely too old for Justice.”

“I know, right? Where does that leave me?”

Leave her for what? Some kind of justice?

“You are so in-between stores,” Gussie said, true sympathy in her voice. “But I have some ideas we could check out at Forever 21, or even H&M.”

Alex’s face brightened. “Would you help me shop?”

Gussie glanced over at Tom, giving a sly wink. They ordered and made small talk, but when the food came, it was obvious Gussie and Alex were getting better and better acquainted without any help from him.

“She hasn’t talked that much to me in all the time I’ve been here,” he admitted quietly to Ari.

“Maybe you don’t know what to talk to her about,” the woman suggested.

Clothes? Video games? Trips to the mall? “That’s an understatement.”

“So can you answer my question now?” She lifted her margarita, looking innocently over the rim of the glass with large, dark eyes. “Intentions?”

He smiled. “So this
is
an interview.”

“More or less.” She sipped again. “No less about it, actually. Interview’s on.”

He took his own deep drink of cold beer. “She set you up to this, didn’t she?”

“No more than you set her up to convince your niece of something.”

Touché
. “What do you want to know?”

“How bad she’s going to be hurt when you disappear.”

He frowned at her, trying to get his head around any possible way of answering that without actually answering it.

“If you’re utterly amazing and truly a keeper, then she’s going to be crushed,” Ari said. “If you’re an uncaring asshole, then she’ll be fine, but we try to steer each other clear of the latter. Which are you?”

His frown deepened. “Doesn’t matter. Either way, I’m the bad guy.”

“Pretty much.” Ari grinned. “But you’ll be happy to know I’m encouraging her to broaden her horizons and have fun with you.”

“Then I should—”

“No!” Alex’s exclamation brought the conversation to a stop, which he should have appreciated, but all the joy was gone from his niece’s eyes as she stared at him. “I’m not going to France,” she said through ground teeth.

“Alex,” Gussie said, putting her hand on Alex’s arm. “You just said you and your mom were going to go to Mexico for a vacation this summer. This would be a vacation, too.”

“That was my mom, and he’s…he’s…”

“Your uncle,” Gussie supplied. “Think of what an adventure it would be.”

“I don’t want an adventure,” she murmured, pushing her barely eaten burrito away and skewering Tom with an accusing look.

“You don’t know that if you haven’t had one,” Gussie said. “It would be like stepping into a video game for real. You would go on a private plane and stay in a beautiful apartment and taste French food, and think about the clothes in France.
Magnifique
!”

Slowly, Alex closed her eyes and let her shoulders fall. Tom knew better than to say a word. One wrongly spoken syllable, and Alex would shut down completely. Instead, they all waited in an awkward beat of silence.

“I think,” Gussie said, leaning a little closer to Alex, “that your Momma would have wanted you to have the experience.”

Moisture formed under Alex’s lashes, and Tom lost the battle to stay still and quiet. He reached his hand across the table and put it on Alex’s other arm so that he and Gussie were both connected to her.

“I’m pretty sure Gussie’s right,” he said, his voice sounding gruff as he worked not to push her too hard.

Finally, Alex opened her eyes and looked right at him. “You didn’t know my Momma at all. You hardly talked to her for years.”

There was a reason for that. He hardly talked to anyone who could ask probing, tough questions after his dark days in Greece. But this was no time to explain that. “Well, then, maybe if we take a trip together, you can tell me all about her.”

Something flickered in Alex’s eyes. “But what if…” She looked down, unable to finish.

“What if what?” Gussie urged gently.

“What if I miss something here?”

“You won’t miss anything here,” Tom said. “I promise you’ll be back before school starts.”

“But what if…” She swallowed, something painful ravaging her expression.

“What if
what
, honey?” Gussie asked.

“What if my dad comes to get me, and I’m not here?”

Oh, man.
His whole chest squeezed until his heart hurt. Is
that
what she thought was going to happen? He opened his mouth, but Gussie shot him a look and sidled closer to Alex.

“Oh, Alex,” she said. “That’s perfectly understandable that you’d feel that way, but if he did…” She dug for something, and Tom knew exactly what she’d come up with: nothing.

Alex’s father was not coming for her.

“Do you think he’s coming?” Alex asked Gussie, hope in her voice as if she thought this new person might be the one with different information.

Gussie stroked Alex’s arm, not answering right away. Finally, she sighed. “I don’t know anything about him, Alex, but I do know that a man who cares very much about you is sitting across from you, trying to do the right thing, offering you a gift, and trying to give you something happy to remember this summer. Why don’t you give him a chance?”

For a second, he couldn’t breathe. He didn’t trust himself to even blink, because everything in him grew tight and heavy. Where did she come from, this unexpected gift of a good woman? He’d never known anyone like her.

Well, he had…once. And swore he’d never take that chance again.

“Okay, I’ll go,” Alex whispered.

“You will?” Tom asked, stunned.

“On one condition.”

“Anything,” he said. “Anything at all. Whatever you want.”

She gave in to a slow smile, still staring at Gussie. “You come, too.”

Chapter Ten

“That is the most brilliant idea I’ve ever heard!” Ari leaned forward like she was about to launch over the guacamole dip to shake sense into Gussie if she even thought about saying no.

Gussie blinked from Alex to Ari and back to Alex again. Both of them looked like the winning lottery ticket had just fallen out of the sky. Finally, she mustered up the courage to look straight ahead and meet Tom’s eyes.

He looked more like a reflection of how Gussie felt—gobsmacked.

“I…can’t,” she murmured.

“Why not?” That came in unison from Alex and Ari. Alex, she understood. But her friend? Her good, trusting friend who’d come to scrutinize the man in question and help decide whether he was worthy of a fling? She’d send her off to France with the guy?

Gussie zeroed in on Ari. “Because we have weddings—”

“One,” Ari said. “After this weekend, we have one wedding booked in August, because it’s so hot and humid.”

“But I have to be here for it.”

“The Lucente-O’Dell wedding?” Ari flicked her fingers like the event was a pesky fly. “Piece of cake. Willow’s the lead on that one, and everything is practically done. You really should go.”

“Well, I…don’t…”

“Have a passport?” Alex asked.

“She’s a destination-wedding planner,” Ari interjected. “Of course she has a passport.”

“But I…shouldn’t be away…”

“Everyone takes vacations in August,” Alex insisted.

“I couldn’t…”

“Yes, you could and you should,” Ari said, as if it were finalized. “Right, Tom?”

“She has to go,” Alex exclaimed, not giving him a chance to reply. “Because if she doesn’t, I’m not going.”

“Alex.” Tom and Gussie spoke in perfectly timed unison.

“This is a big decision,” Tom said, obviously choosing each word carefully. “Not something anyone could decide on the spur of the moment.”

At least one person had some sanity at this table. Unfortunately, he was the one whose opinion mattered most.

“I don’t know if I could—”

“It would be like stepping into a video game for real,” Alex said, enough singsong in her voice that Gussie recognized it as an echo of her own words. “‘You would go on a private plane and stay in a beautiful apartment and taste French food, and think about the clothes in France.
Magnifique
!’”

Alex looked so pleased with her memory, Gussie had to laugh. “Well, I
still
have to think about it.”

“What’s to—”

Ari cut off Alex’s question by standing up and taking the girl’s hand. “Alex, why don’t you and I walk into town and stop by Miss Icey’s for a cone and let these two talk about it?”

“Okay,” Alex agreed, also pushing back.

Gussie opened her mouth to argue—and possibly drag Ari off to the bathroom for an explanation—but then she thought better of it. “That is a good idea,” she said. “I have some questions for Tom about the…logistics.” Like, did he like the idea
at all
?

In seconds, Alex and Ari were gone, leaving Tom and Gussie staring at each other.

“Um, I think I know what it feels like to go under a steamroller now,” Gussie joked. “I really don’t know what to say.”

Leaning forward, he put his hand over hers, the touch warm and intimate. “Say yes.”

Really? Her next breath was a little ragged, her stomach fluttering about while her heart rate tripled. How did he do that to her with two simple words?

“Yes?” She went for a joke, because his face was way too serious. “You’ve been telling me to say that all day, Tom. I think you’re a bad influence.”

“Yeah, ’cause a few weeks in France would be very bad for you.” He added some pressure on her hand. “I’d like to have you there. You’re amazing.”

“I’m good with Alex.” That had to be what he meant, right?

“And you’re amazing.” At her look of disbelief, he added, “I told you today I’m honest. So, yes, it’s obvious you have an incredible effect on her and connect with her in a way I never could. You have the ability to magically put a spark in the eyes of a little girl who thinks life has beaten her.”

Okay. That’s why he wanted her there. Like a babysitter or companion—for his niece.

“But that’s
not
why I want you to go.” He held her gaze, unwavering and direct. “I want to get to know you better.”

She didn’t answer, making him laugh. “You don’t believe me, do you?”

“I admit to some skepticism.”

He laughed, shaking his head. “Woman, you have got to up the confidence quotient.”

“And I’m going to do that by going to Europe?”

“You’re going to do that by”—he threaded his fingers through hers—“spending time with someone—two someones, actually—who think you’re fantastic.”

Good God, it was easy to believe him. Easy to forget his personal mantra and travelin’-man lifestyle. Easy to hope that this could be more than…

A trip of a lifetime.

“I don’t know…” But she did. Deep inside, she did.

He smiled, slow and sweet and, dang it all, so sexy her whole body betrayed her with a hormonal tsunami.

“As you said to my niece”—he stroked her hand and inched closer—“there’s a man sitting right here who is trying to do the right thing, offering you a gift, and trying give you something happy to remember this summer. Why don’t you give him a chance?”

Because he was probably going to break her poor little heart into a bazillion pieces. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “Why don’t I?”

* * *

“Looks like Nick’s still here,” Ari said as she pulled the car into the driveway, the headlights shining first on Nick’s car, then on the wraparound porch that circled the first floor of their house. “Let’s get Willow’s opinion.”

“Let’s not bother her,” Gussie said, gathering her bag. “We can talk to her tomorrow.”

“Why? Are you afraid she’ll say you should go?”

“Yes. She’ll have me packed and out the door before you can say,
Bonjour, mes amis
.”

“See, you do speak French.”

Gussie shook her head, tired of the discussion. All she wanted to do was get up to her apartment and think about every single word Tom had said to her.

“Let’s go at least tell her about it,” Ari said.

“You know Willow will agree with you because love is blind, and she thinks we’re going to find lightning in a bottle like she did.”

Ari sighed wistfully as she turned off the engine and lights. “Could happen.”

“A hot Navy SEAL with abs of steel and a heart of gold?” Gussie grunted. “There are so many of those running around.”